Still, there was no empirical evidence supporting the theory that the Cougars could beat No. 1 UConn. In women's basketball, No. 12 seeds, no matter how inspired they are, rarely bloom past late-March. What made them so different?

Well, UConn found out. BYU competed. It just couldn't survive. So it is that UConn moved on to the Elite Eight with its 70-51 win at the Pinnacle Bank Arena.

"We had a shot and that's all you can ask for in a game sometimes," BYU coach Jeff Judkins said. "We came out and played with so much heart and energy."

Not since its 11-point win at Baylor on Jan. 13 had the Huskies felt so much heat.

"Yeah, there was a point where I was thinking, 'How the hell am I going to answer all those questions [after the game]?'" coach Geno Auriemma said. "Jeff [Judkins] is going to be up there saying, 'He has all the best players and we beat their butts.'"

The Huskies were led by Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis. She followed her triple-double in the second round with another 19 points, 13 rebounds (eight offensive) and four assists.

She was the key during a 10-point spurt that turned a 37-37 tie into a 10-point lead with 14:30 to play with rebounds, an assist, a steal and a three.

Breanna Stewart, who didn't have a field goal for nearly the first 19 minutes, finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocks. Bria Hartley added 12 points and five assists. Moriah Jefferson had 11 points. And Stefanie Dolson had nine points and 13 rebounds.

BYU (28-7) was led by senior Kim Beeston. She scored 13 of her team-high 16 in the first half. Its 6-7 center, Jennifer Hamson, had nine points, 13 rebounds and six blocks.

"They came out strong from the beginning," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "They made every single shot. And we couldn't make anything."

UConn will play in its ninth straight Elite Eight on Monday (9:30 p.m., ESPN) against Texas A&M, an 84-65 winner over DePaul.

UConn (37-0) now has 43 straight wins dating to its game against Idaho in the first-round of last year's NCAA Tournament. But unlike many that preceded it, Saturday's win had nothing in common with any of them.

Was BYU intimidated? It didn't look like it at all. It just couldn't get to the free throw line. UConn was 15-for-23; BYU was 3-for-7.

The Huskies came in having trailed for just 38:49 in their first 1,440 minutes this season. Not a single second had come in the postseason, which opened with a 72-42 pounding of Cincinnati in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference on March 8.

But with 17:34 to play, Lexi Eaton's basket gave BYU a 35-34 lead. It was the first time all season that the Huskies had trailed in the second half. But by that time, it was just the latest piece of evidence that UConn was in a tussle.

This was no joy ride, certainly not in the first half when the lead changed eight times and there were three ties — and UConn was held to a season-low 30 points. This was a thrill ride. For the first time this season, it was UConn seemingly careening around the corners, its hands over its head wondering when the ride would stop.

It was new. It was unusual. It was strangely entertaining. And it was BYU's doing.

"We were incredibly excited just knowing we were right there with them," Beeston said. "We were confident that if we kept playing like we were playing, it would be a close game."

Not only did the Huskies trail in the first half, they did so five times. They fell behind for the first time, 3-2, with 17:44 to play. And then with 8:21 to play, Beeston's basket gave the Cougars a 19-17 lead that they stretched to six (27-21) and held onto for 7:18 — an eternity in this season of routs.

Stewart's first field goal, with 1:03 to play, returned the lead to UConn at 28-27. And its halftime lead was just one (30-29).

"We just knew we had to stay positive," Mosqueda-Lewis said.

All of the ingredients that normally feed upsets were melding. The Huskies were 11-for-31 from the field in the half and Stewart, its national player of the year candidate, was just 1-for-8. The Huskies were 0-for-8 from three — marking the first time all season that they had failed to score a three-pointer in the first half.

Meanwhile, BYU was 5-for-10 from three, holding its own on the boards and getting the beginning of a great day from Beeston, a senior guard with a penchant for making threes. She led the Cougars with 13 first-half points. Bailey did her part with eight.

What seemed impossible enjoyed a long life, but the Cougars had just one field goal in the final 10 minutes, and UConn pulled away.

— There is only one athletic director in Division I with both basketball teams in the Elite Eight, and he arrived at Pinnacle Bank Arena about three hours before UConn's regional semifinal against BYU on Saturday.

The regional finals of the NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament will be played this weekend in Lincoln, Neb., South Bend, Ind., Palo Alto, Calif., and Louisville, Ky. Here's a look at how the brackets break down.